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THE SOURCES OF 
MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 



BY 



HARRY GLICKSMAN 

YALE 
DISSERTATION. 



REPRINTED FROM 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 
IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 
NUMBER 11 



JAI35 
5 



M 



THE SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 1 
Harry Glicksman 

Milton's sources for his History of Britain were of two 
principal kinds. There were, first, those general compilatious, 
written during or near his own time, in which the authorities 
for early English history were presented to him in an in- 
termediate manner, and only after free handling by their 
interpreters. Secondly, there were those mediaeval sources 
which, sometimes in a strict, and at other times in a more 
liberal sense may be called original. 

Milton consulted works of the former class when he en- 
countered a period for which a large number of separate 
authorities offered distinct contributions. He discovered, for 
example, that after the retirement of Agricola and until the 
fall of Rome, he would be obliged to piece together a structure 
of fact derived from a bewildering array of authors — among 
them Eutropius, Dion, Spartianus, Capitolinus, Eumenius, 
Zosimus, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Victor Aurelius. 2 With 
that prospect, he turned to the exhaustive De Primordiis 
of Usher, 3 published in 1639, which had, for several years 
before its appearance, been eagerly awaited by antiquarian 



1 The History of Britain, That part especially now call'd England. From 
the first Traditional Beginning, continu'd to the Norman Conquest. Col- 
lected out of the antientest and best Authours thereof by John Milton. 
London, Printed by J. M. for James Allestry, at the Rose and Crown in 
St Paul's Church-Yard, MDCLXX. 

For helpful advice and suggestive material I acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to Professor Albert S. Cook, of Yale University, under whose super- 
vision I made a special study of the History of Britain during the academic 
year 1917-18. 

2 See pp. 219 ff. Throughout this article, a page citation is to be re- 
garded, in the absence of other data, as a reference to Milton's Histori 
of Britain in Vol. V of the Bohn edition of the Prose Works. 

* James Usher (or Ussher), Archbishop of Armagh (1581-1656). The 
work is known both as Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiqtiitates and as 
De Britannicamm Ecclesiarum Primordiis. 



106 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

scholars. For its ecclesiastical data Milton had little regard, 
but mingled with these he would find material of a political 
character that could readily serve his ends. The treatise on 
the Roman occupation in Camden's Britannia was another 
valuable work; and in two instances Milton renders it plain, 
by marginal references, that only through Camden's con- 
spectus has he found his way to the original sources. 4 For 
this period, also, he must have summoned the help of the 
painstaking Speed, who, with his abundant citations, doubt- 
less recalled the days of the Commonplace Book; the elaborate 
description of British manners and customs in the Second 
Book, for instance, shows resemblance, in many features, to 
a chapter on the same subject in Speed's work. 5 The use 
of a conspectus is likewise indicated in the Third Book, 
especially for the period dealing with the Britons' resistance 
to the Teutonic invaders. Here one meets the names of 
Paulus Diaconus, Blondus, Sabellicus, Constantius, Sigonius, 
Widukind, and Sigebert, 6 each of whom makes a relatively 
insignificant contribution; and the direct marginal references 
to Usher 's work 7 enhance the probability that it was employed 
as a vade mecum. It was largely to Usher, though in part 
also to Camden and Speed, that Milton seems to have owed 
his knowledge of the early British chronicler Nennius, whose 
Historia, which did not appear in print until 1691, he used 
freely. 8 The digests of modern writers were resorted to, 
moreover, for the legendary material, which Milton examined 
with sceptical scrutiny. He called Holinshed into service 



'Pp. 227-9. 

s Pp. 197-8; see also Speed, History Great Brit., ed. 1627, pp. 166 ft. 

*Pp. 241 ff. 

'Pp. 245, 251, 256. 

8 The following letter from Usher to Sir Simonds D'Ewes is contained 
in Parr, Life and Letters of James Usher (p. 506). 

Quo tempore & Ninium, (ita enim appello, & vetustissimi codicis author- 
itatem, & nominis ejusdem in Ninia, & Niniano expressa vestigia, secutus) 
cum variis MSS. a me non indiligenter comparatum, tecum sum communi- 
caturus ; ut Exemplar ia Cottoniana (quibus in hac ipsa collatiotfe ego sum 
usus) denuo consul ete necesse ndn habeas. Nam ad diplomata Anglo- 
Saxonica quod attinet: non in uno aliquo volumine simul collecta, sed 
per varios illius Bibliothecse libros dispersa ea fuisse animadverti, de 
quibus in unum corpus compingendis, dabitur (ut spero) opportunus tecum 



Gift 
Univ.. 
(8 AY «f| 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 107 

at an early point, 9 and there is clear evidence that he con- 
sulted Stow in recounting the adventures of Ebranc and 
Brutus. 10 It may be safely assumed, indeed, that Milton, 
throughout the work, bore in mind the plan and the treatment 
of Holinshed, of Stow, and of Speed, who were generously 
represented in the Commonplace Book. 11 To them, notably 
Speed, he could revert at any time to learn what sources were 
likely to provide the most reliable information, and the widest 
range of it, for a given period. 

The foregoing suggests an important fact. Milton's em- 
ployment of the works of modern compilers never enslaved 
him. He is always to be conceived as dividing his attention — 
or as instructing his readers and amanuenses to divide theirs 
— between the conspectus on the one hand, and the original 
authority on the other. He has Holinshed, Stow, and Speed 
at his elbow while he composes the First Book, but he knows 
that Geoffrey, for a half-historical and half -poetical purpose 
like that at hand, is the best of the mediaeval chroniclers. He 



coram consultandi locus ; Interim ut egregiis tuis conatibus Deus adsit & 
benedicat, summis votis exoptat qui 

Londini, xii Kal. Jul. Ex. animo tuus est, 

An M. D C. X L. Ja. Armachanus. 

Cf. Nennius, ed. Stevenson, pp. xix-xx. On Usher's interest in early Eng- 
lish history, see Adams, Old English Scliolarship, p. 115. 
8 P. 167. 

10 Pp. 174-5; see also Stow, Annales, ed. 1631, p. 9. 

11 For a discussion of this topic, see Charles H. Firth, Milton as an 
Historian, Proceedings of the British Academy for 1907-8. 

Fueter (Geschichte der neueren Historiographie, p. 166) implies that 
Firth's treatment is inadequate, since the latter compares Milton with 
only these three chroniclers. Fueter's criticism is unjust. Holinshed, 
Stow, and Speed were, as Firth shows, the modern English historians 
whom Milton had read with special attention ; there is hence a special 
interest in comparing him with them. 

On Milton's relatively sceptical and scientific attitude toward the legend- 
ary material, see Firth, pp. 233-6. Of special interest is his comment 
on the handling of the Arthurian story : 

"Milton's treatment of the Arthurian legend is a still more interesting 
example of the progress of scepticism. The three chroniclers who were 
the standard historians of Milton's time all doubted the details of the 
legend, but believed that Arthur was a real king who gained genuine 
victories. 'Of this Arthur,' says Holinshed's Chronicle, 'many things are 
written beyond credit, for that there is no ancient author of authority that 
confirmeth the same ; but surely as may be thought he was some worthy 



108 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

consequently follows him page by page. When, in the Second 
Book, he takes up the De Primordiis of Usher, he does not 
limit himself to the scope of that history. Usher 's scrupulous 
respect for ecclesiastical records would persuade Milton to 
pay him no more than a grudging heed. He therefore makes 
examination, on his own account, of Ammianus Marcellinus 
and Dion, of Zosimus and Orosius. 12 The employment of 
Usher's volume in the Third Book, in like manner, cannot 
preclude him from consulting Malmesbury, Huntingdon, Bede, 
and Gildas, with all of whom he has independent acquaint- 
ance, relying upon them, in fact, in other parts of his history. 13 



man, and by all likelihood a great enemy to the Saxons, by reason whereof 
the Welshmen, which are the very Britons indeed, have him in famous 
remembrance.' Then at great length he relates the legendary life and 
exploits of the hero (Holinshed, Chronicles, ed. 1587, bk. 1, pp. 90-3). 

"Stow is briefer, but adopts much the same position. 'Of this Arthur 
there be many fabulous reports, but certain he was (saith William of 
Malmesbury) a prince more worthy to have advancement by true histories 
than false fables, being the only prop and upholder of his country.' He 
supports the truth of the story by identifying the sites of Mon Badonicus 
and the Castle of Camelot, and describing the remains found there (Stow, 
Chronicle, ed. 1631, pp. 53-5). The critical Speed quotes Malmesbury 
too. and condemns Geoffrey of Monmouth for discrediting the truth about 
Arthur by his toys and tales. 'Of his person,' he concludes, 'we make no 
doubt, though his acts have been written with too lavish a pen' (Speed, 
History of Great Britain, ed. 1632, p. 271). 

"Milton is much more thoroughgoing. All that happened about that 
time is doubtful. 'The age whereof we now write hath had the ill hap 
more than any since the first fabulous times, to be surcharged with all 
the idle fancies of posterity.' He introduces Arthur by describing him 
as a British leader, 'more renowned in songs and romances than true 
stories.' With real insight he dismisses at once the mediaeval fictions 
and examines the account of Nennius as the only evidence of any real 
value." 

Firth's article, which contains an elaborate treatment of sources, dis- 
cusses the relation of the History to certain additional fields of interest — 
to Milton's biography and personality, his thought and scholarship ; to 
the literary and philosophical influences which operated upon the com- 
position and content of the work ; and to the political and ecclesiastical 
environment of Milton's age. 

With respect to the sources, the present article, which includes some of 
Firth's material, aims to supplement his treatment by discussing (1) the 
comparative attention which Milton gave to his several authorities, and 
the relative degrees in which he employed modern compilations and origi- 
nal sources; (2) the extent to which he put himself in touch with the 
accessible authorities; (3) the relation of the History to Wheloc's Anglo- 
Saxon scholarship; (4) the use of chronological data; and, especially, 
(5) Milton's art as a translator from Latin into English. 

"Pp. 223, 229, 233. 

"Pp. 250 ff. ] 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 109 

Milton's tendency, in a word, is not to put his trust in other 
men's research, nor to view the original sources through the 
medium of digests and synopses; it is rather to make these 
cumulative writings serve the ultimate authorities as sup- 
plements and aids. In this fashion he uses Higden's Poly- 
chronicon, Spelman's Concilia, and Calvisius' Opus Chrono- 
logicum, 1 * His impatience with tradition and precedent is 
typical of his character. He aims, accordingly, to depend as 
little as possible on those intermediate and superfluous steps 
which intervene between himself and the original, and he 
ignores them wherever he reasonably can. There are, it is 
true, cases in which he is practically compelled to consult 
modern historical specialists, but here he manifests similar 
intolerance. He feels bound, for instance, to recognize in 
Camden the most authoritative English geographer of his 
age, and he consequently cites the Britannia whenever ques- 
tions of topography arise. 15 But he takes pains to notify his 
readers that he finds it distasteful and beside the purpose 
"to wrinkle the smoothness of history with rugged names of 
places unknown, better harped at in Camden and other 
chorographers. " 16 For occasional bits of Scottish history, or 
for points of contact between the English annals and the 
Scottish, he turns to Buchanan's Rer t um Scoticarum Historia, 
but the fanciful accounts of that uncritical historian, whom 
he taxes with paraphrasing "the fables of his predecessor 
Boethius," invariably repel him. 17 It is curious, in the light 
of this unmitigated censure, that he distinguishes Buchanan 
with any mention whatever. The circumstance is probably 
to be explained by his conscientious and scholarly resolve to 
gather the accessible data, those both of higher and of lower 
merit, for his readers' individual inspection, and partly, it 
is feared, by the irrepressible desire to display his contempt 
for Scottish historical writing. Even more surprising is his 
use of the Dutch-Danish Pontanus, from whose Rerum Dani- 



14 Pp. 213, 259, 273, 308. 

15 E. g., pp. 188, 255, 266, 274, 297, 319, 328, 362, 383. 
"P. 299. 

"Pp. 242, 261, 305, 331. 



110 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

carum Historia he strives, with frail ' success, to develop a 
harmonious statement of the Scandinavian ravages. 18 There 
is here, also, a strong intimation that Milton, in spite of his 
stern judgment on the writer, regarded it as too radical and 
arbitrary to overlook him altogether. Though he ' ' contributes 
nothing," 19 it is the part of wisdom and sound scholarship 
to record that he has been searched. 

Milton's usual practice, however, is to take his material 
from the early authorities. He attempts to discover the 
"ancientest author," 20 and this done, he addresses himself 
to the task of determining in what manner his successors have 
supplemented or repudiated him. He shows his discrimina- 
tion at the very outset. He knows that behind Geoffrey lie 
the fables of Nennius; 21 he is also aware that Geoffrey's ac- 
count is presented, in substance, by the later Matthew of 
Westminster. 22 Yet in the version of Geoffrey, whom he de- 
clares to be "the principal author," 23 he sees the most 
promising fund for the treatment of the centuries preceding 
Caesar's invasion. Since he knows little or nothing of the 
more recent science of ethnology, since the terms Celtic, Gaelic, 
and Cymric cannot signify to him what they do to subsequent 
scholars, he must rest content with the most intelligible and 
consistent exposition of the old fables and half-truths that 
he can find. Though he condemns Geoffrey for his sim- 
plicity, 24 there is the conviction that he, of all the earlier 
writers, will offer the best material. Varying the narrative 
with references to Caesar, Mela, Nennius, Virunnius, Gildas, 
and Floras; 28 with borrowings, as indicated above, from 
modern English commentators; and with one quotation, by 



18 Pp. 301, 309, 317-8, 347. 
ia P. 347. 

20 See mention of Bede on p. 221. 

21 See p. 167. 

22 See Gross, Sources and Lit. Eng. Hist., p. 362. 

23 P. 168. 

24 Pp. 220-1, 243. 

25 Pp. 165, 166, 167, 171, 179, 180. The reference to Florus seems trace- 
able to Camden. Milton's passage reads (p. 180) : "Thus much is more 
generally believed, that both this Brennus, and another famous captain, 
Britomarus, whom the epitomist Florus and others mention, were not 
Gauls, but Britains; the name of the first in that tongue signifying a 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 1H 

way of tribute, from the verses of his admired Spenser, 26 
he clings to Geoffrey's story through the whole of the First 
Book. In no other part of the History does he employ a 
source so freely for the same number of consecutive pages. 27 

"When Milton reaches the Second Book, he has his first op- 
portunity to make known what he really believes about the 
use of historical authorities. He is now within grasp of 
authentic records; he pauses to reflect that "great acts and 
great eloquence have most commonly gone hand in hand"; 28 
and he forthwith devotes himself to what he calls the ' ' trans- 
cription" of the Roman writers. The works of historians of 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries might have supplied 
him with a large proportion of the data affecting the period 
from Caesar's first invasion to the end of Agricola's governor- 
ship ; but the scruples of the true scholar direct him to ascer- 
tain whether "aught by diligence may be added or omitted, 
or by other disposing may be more explained or more ex- 
pressed." 29 For Caesar's British campaigns he follows the 
De Bello Gallico faithfully, though with ample regard for 
English idiom, 30 using Suetonius, Cicero, Valerius Maximus, 
Plutarch, Dion, Pliny, and Bede for only supplementary and 
confirmatory minutiae. 31 Recognizing that the first century 
after Christ is known mainly through Dion's Historia, and 
through the Ann ales and the Vita Agricolce of Tacitus, 32 he 



king, and of the other a great Britain." Cf. Britannia, ed. Gough, I. 
lxxii-iii: "And some think they can easily prove king Brennus, so famous 
in Greek and Latin historians, to have been a Britan. Thus much I 
know, that this name is not yet worn out among the Britans, who call a 
king in their language Brennin. The name shews Britomarus, general 
among them mentioned by Florus and Appian, to have been a Britan, his 
name importing Great Briton." 

28 P. 175. The verses are found in F. Q. 2. 10. 24. 

27 Specimens of Milton's translation of Geoffrey's text, with the Latin 
in parallel columns, are found below, pp. 125-9. 

28 P. 185. 
28 P. 186. 

30 See, for example, below, p. 130. 

31 Pp. 186, 188, 189, 192, 195, 196. 

32 The following is of interest as an illustration of Milton's close but 
idiomatic rendering of Tacitus: 

Britannorum acies in speciem simul The British powers on the hill side, 
ac terrorem editioribus locis con- as might best serve for show and 
sti-terat ita, ut primum agmen in terror, stood in their battalions; 
sequo, ceteri per adclive iugum the first on even ground, the next 



112 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



conexi velut insurgerent ; media 
campi covinnarius eques strepitu 
ac discursu complebat. turn Agri- 
cola superante hostium multitudine 
veritus, ne in frontem simul et lat- 
era suorum pugnaretur, diductis 
ordinibus, quamquam porrectior 
acies futura erat et arcessendas 
plerique 1 e g i o n e s admonebant, 
promptior in spem et Annus adver- 
sis, dimisso equo pedes ante vexiila 
constitit (Vit. Agric., ed. Furneaux, 
pp. 142-3). 

It is enlightening, also, to compare the close translation of Dion in 
Petrie's Monumenta Historica Britannica (Ex Scriptoribus Grcecis etc., 
p. liv) with Milton's more independent, though accurate, rendering. 

Plautius, after much trouble to find 



rising behind, as the hill ascended. 
The field between rung with the 
noise of horsemen and chariots 
ranging up and down. Agricol*. 
doubting to be overwinged, stretches 
out his front, though somewhat 
with the thinnest, insomuch that 
many advised to bring up the 
legions: yet he not altering, alights 
from his horse, and stands on foot 
before the ensigns (p. 217). 



Plautius, therefore, had much diffi- 
culty in seeking them out; but 
when he did discover them, as they 
were not independent but subject to 
different kings, he overcame first 
Cataratacus, then Togodumnus, the 
sons of Cynobellinus, who was now 
dead. These taking to flight, he 
brought a part of the Boduni, who 
were under the dominion of the 
Catuellani, to terms of peace. Here 
leaving a garrison, he proceeded 
farther. But when they arrived at 
a certain river, which the barbar- 
ians supposed the Romans could not 
pass without a bridge, and in con- 
sequence had taken up their posi- 
tion carelessly on the opposite 
bank, he sends forward the Celti, 
who, even armed, were accustomed 
to swim with ease over the most 
rapid rivers; who, attacking them 
contrary to their expectation, 
wounded not the men indeed, but 
the horses which drew their char- 
iots ; which being thrown into con- 
fusion, they who rode therein were 
no longer secure. Next he sent 
over Flavius Vespasianus, who af- 
terwards enjoyed the supreme rule, 
and his brother Sabinus as next in 
command ; these also, having passed 
the river at a certain place, killed 
many of the barbarians by surprise. 
The rest, however, did not fly, but 
the following day again maintained 
the conflict nearly on equal terms, 
until Cneius Osidius Geta, though 



them out, encountering first with 
Caractacus, then with Togodum- 
nus, overthrew them ; and receiving 
into conditions part of the Boduni, 
who then were subject to the Catuel- 
lani, and leaving there a garrison, 
went on toward a river : where the 
Britons not imagining that Plautius 
without a bridge could pass, lay on 
the further side careless and secure. 
But he sending first the Germans, 
whose custom was, armed as they 
were, to swim with ease the strong- 
est current, commands them to 
strike especially at the horses, 
whereby the chariots, wherein con- 
sisted their chief art of fight, be- 
came unserviceable. To second them 
he sent Vespasian, who in his lat- 
ter days obtained the empire, and 
Sabinus his brother ; who unexpect- 
edly assailing those who were least 
aware, did much execution. Yet 
not for this were the Britons dis- 
mayed ; but reuniting the next day, 
fought with such courage, as made 
it hard to decide which way hung 
the victory : till Caius Sidius Geta, 
at point to have been taken, recov- 
ered himself so valiantly, as brought 
the day on his side; for which at 
Rome he received high honours (pp. 
200-1). 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN US 

assigns to those works the largest share of his attention, 
availing himself, however, of Orosius, 33 Suetonius, the Historic, 
of Tacitus, Eutropius, and in one instance even of a Juven- 
alian satire, for the filling in and corroboration of his ac- 
count. 34 After the recall of Agricola he turned for special 
guidance to the modern writers, in whose works he could find 
references to the Historia Augusta, Eumenius, Ammianus, 
Prosper Tiro, Zosimus, Procopius, and Socrates. 35 Arrived 
at the end of the Roman occupation, he must take leave of 
the Greek and Roman historians, and rely on the only original 
sources, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that 
are offered him — the chronicles of the monks. "Yet these 
guides," he comments resignedly, "where can be had no 
better, must be followed." 36 The language then ensuing 
augurs plainly what Milton's policy is to be. "In gross," 
he asserts, referring to the quality of the monkish sources, 
"it may be true enough; in circumstances 37 each man, as his 
judgment gives him, may reserve his faith, or bestow it." 
Since the details submitted by the monks need the narrowest 
scrutiny, their writings, Milton would argue, must be ex- 



in imminent danger of being made 
prisoner, ultimately so completely 
defeated them, that he received 
triumphal honours, although he had 
not yet served the office of consul. 

*» Milton was sometimes constrained to adopt inaccurate references. 
Citing Paulus Orosius in support of the statement that "Caesar in his first 
journey, entertained with a sharp fight, lost no small number of his foot, 
and by tempest nigh all of his horse" (pp. 196-7), he remarks that Orosius 
"took what he wrote from a history of Suetonius now lost." For Orosius* 
statement as to Caesar's first journey, see Orosius, Historiarum adversum 
Paganos Libri vii, ed. Zangemeister, p. 377. That he believed he was 
following Suetonius in his account of Caesar is made clear by a previous 
passage: "Hanc historiam Suetonius Tranquillus plenissime explicuit, 
cuius nos, conpetentes portiunculas decerpsimus" (ibid., p. 369). Sueton- 
ius, in fact, furnishes no such data. The conclusion is that Orosius, 
using a contraction of Caesar's Commentaries, mistook Caesar for Sueton- 
ius. Milton was evidently misled by Orosius' error, inferring that the 
mysterious work of Suetonius had been lost. See Reifferscheid, Remains of 
Suetonius, p. 471. 

34 Pp. 196, 199, 207, 219. 

M The ecclesiastical historian. 

»P. 235. 

•» The first edition (1670) reads circumstance. 



114 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

amined as a whole, and every one in comparison with every 
other. This theory is actually applied in the Third Book. 
Along with Gildas, the earliest of British historians, who 
furnishes him with much material, he considers Bede, who 
follows two centuries later, and their followers — Malmesbury, 
the imaginary Matthew of Westminster, Huntingdon, and 
Florence. With Usher's Be Primordiis ready at hand, he 
is still sensible of the higher value of original authorities; 
and with these early sources before him, he is conscious that 
they must be treated as checks and balances upon each other. 
In passing from the Teutonic conquest to the Christianiza- 
tion of England, 38 Milton encounters a monk whom, in spite 
of anti-monastic prejudice, he sincerely respects. The Ec- 
clesiastical History of the Venerable Bede, with its strong 
flavor of "superstition and monastical affectation," 39 is not, 
to be sure, the kind of work that Milton would select, had he 
the choice of his sources. Complaining in one breath that 
he is uncertain "whether Beda was wanting to his matter, 
or his matter to him," 40 he acknowledges in the next that 
the absence of that author will, for the interval ending at 
the ' ' Danish Invasion, ' ' 41 be felt keenly. His attitude towards 
this standard history is, in practical effect, one of honest 
appreciation. In the presence of Bede, as in that of Caesar 
and Tacitus, he realizes that he has come into contact with 
an ultimate source. Although he ignores most of the re- 
citals of miraculous intervention, and the long accounts of 
ecclesiastical councils, he recognizes that he must delve in 
chapters full of such material, in order to construct a re- 
liable version of the history of the Heptarchy for the seventh 
century and the first third of the eighth. The contributions 
of subsequent authorities, such as Malmesbury, Huntingdon, 
Florence, Matthew of Westminster, and the Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle, are only incidental. But those and others like 
them are, after Bede's departure, the sources in which Milton 



38 Pp. 267 ff. 
»P. 295. 
*> Ibid. 
n Ibid. 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 115 

must repose his faith. It is a dismal prospect he now sees. 
Some comfort he finds in the "style and judgment" 42 of 
Malmesbury, but apart from him he anticipates little except 
the irresponsible "conjectures and surmises" of the com- 
mentators on the "obscure and blockish chronicles." For 
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, though in large measure an 
original authority, offers only spasmodic help. Wheloc's im- 
perfect Latin translation interfered somewhat with intelligent 
study of this valuable text; 43 there seems to have been the 
thought, besides, that even in its clearest passages it stood 
in constant need of interpretation. It is charged that the 
compilers are "ill-gifted with utterance," 44 and, in one in- 
stance, that they "deliver their meaning with more than 
wonted infancy." 45 If he places little trust in the "chief 
fountain" of his story, as he terms the Chronicle* 6 he reposes 

42 P. 295. 

43 Abraham Wheloc's edition of Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle appeared in 1643. To those unfamiliar with 
Anglo-Saxon the printing of the Chronicle was an occasion of special im- 
portance ; for by the side of the original text was a Latin translation. 
As to Wheloc, see Eleanor N. Adams, Old English Scholarship in England 
from 1566-1800. 

It is clear that Milton, apparently unable to read or understand the 
Anglo-Saxon, relied upon the Latin. He charges the chronicler with run- 
ning into "extravagant fancies and metaphors" in his version of the Battle 
of Brunanburh. Wheloc, indeed, confesses his helplessness before the 
task of translating the ballad account of the battle, and feels obliged to 
add the following marginal note for the year 938: "Idioma hie et ad 
annum 942 et 975 perantiquum et horridum lectoris candorem et dili- 
gentiam desiderat." Cf. Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. CXXVIII. Wuelcker 
iCadmon und Milton, Angl. 4.404) enlists Milton's disregard of the ballad 
to prove that he was not familiar with Anglo-Saxon. 

The chronicler, wishing to name the place of Eadred's death, says simply : 
"On Frome" (Sax. Chron. 1. 112). Wheloc misinterpreted the phrase, 
translating it "in a^tatis vigore" (ibid., ed. Wheloc, p. 558). Milton, fol- 
lowing Wheloc's Latin, says of Eadred that he sickened "in the flower of 
his youth" (p. 339). Wheloc was evidently misled by the Anglo-Saxon 
adjective from (freom), meaning "strong," "abundant," "virtuous." 

Again, Wheloc writes "turn exercitus Ite domum vociferatur," in an at- 
tempt to render "pa se fyrdstemn for ham." See Sax. Chron. 1. 103 ; 
ibid. 2. CXXVIII, note 5 ; ibid., ed. Wheloc, p. 553. Milton writes unsus- 
pectingly : "Whereat the king's soldiers joyfully cried out to be dismissed 
home" (p. 330). 

"P. 324. 

45 P. 318. 

"Ibid. 



116 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

even less in its interpreters, nearly all of them monks, of 
whom he contemptuously observes that they ''gloss and 
comment at their pleasure." 47 Approaching his material in 
such a spirit, it is little wonder that, instead of casting his 
lot with any one Avriter, he searches among them all, con- 
vinced that the best is bad enough. To Simeon of Durham's 
Historia Begum, which became available in print at the ap- 
pearance of Twysden's Scriptores Decern in 1652, and pre- 
sented the annals in a reasonably clear and objective manner, 
he gives a certain preference. 48 It is evident, in the last 
analysis, however, that from Simeon he derives little more 
than a prima facie version. He borrows copiously from him, 
but only after weighing 'him with one or more of a number 
of others, with the Chronicle, Ethelwerd, Malmesbury, Flor- 
ence, Huntingdon, Hoveden, Ingulf, and the Flores of the 
so-called Matthew of Westminster. 49 



47 Ibid. 

48 Pp. 296 ff. Firth (p. 230) correctly assumes that Milton used this 
edition of Simeon, calling attention to the fact that that author is re- 
ferred to not only in the last two Books, the Fifth and Sixth, but also 
towards the end of the Fourth (see references to Simeon beginning- on 
p. 296). This circumstance sheds light upon a biographical passage in 
the Second Defense wherein Milton relates that he had hoped, after the 
establishment of the Commonwealth, to be released from engagements 
in the public behalf, and that he then turned his attention to continuing 
the History, which, he declares, was to be "from the earliest times to the 
present period" (Bohn 1. 261). "I had already finished four books," he 
adds, "when .... I was surprised by an invitation from the 
council of state, who desired my services in the office for foreign affairs." 
He refers to his appointment, in March 1649, as Secretary for Foreign 
Tongues. Since there is clear evidence of the use of Simeon in the 
Fourth Book, it is to be inferred that what Milton in 1649 — and until 
1654, the date of the publication of the Second Defense — regarded as 
the end of the Fourth Book, was a point at or about p. 296 of the Bohn 
text, where he is taking reflective leave of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, 
and is looking forward, with no little misgiving, to the authority of the 
later monks. About six years after, instead of beginning the Fifth Book 
at that point, he merely continued the Fourth, including in the latter the 
new material from Simeon which had become accessible during the 
interval. 

49 For the period of the Saxon Heptarchy, however, Milton's several 
authorities gave him only meagre satisfaction. "Such bickerings to re- 
count, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it," he queries, 
"than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows, flocking and fighting in 
the air?" (p. 304). 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 117 

Milton continues, indeed, during the remainder of the work, 
to exercise this caution. At the same time, he is not pre- 
cluded from laying additional stress, wherever it is merited, 
on a given authority. For the reign of Alfred and the events 
immediately preceding it, he summons the aid of Asser; 
during the succeeding half -century 50 he avails himself largely 
of the Chronicle? 1 but never in entire disregard of its com- 
mentators; for whole portions of the reigns of Ethelred the 
Redeless, Cnut, Harold Harefoot, and Edward the Confessor, 
he borrows from the clearly arranged narrative of Simeon, 
showing, however, in his treatment of the Danish kings, that 

Firth (p. 248) quotes this passage, citing Hume (Hist. Eng. 1. 25), who, 
referring to the figure of the kites and crows, declares it natural that the 
"great learning and vigorous imagination of Milton" could not contend 
with the task of bringing orderly arrangement out of the confused trans- 
actions and battles of the Saxon Heptarchy." Green remarks that Milton 
"scorned" as battles of the kites and crows the interesting and significant 
"struggles of Northumbrian, Mercian, and West Saxon kings to establish 
their supremacy over the general mass of Englishmen" (Making of Eng., 
ed. 1882, p. 245). Plummer, citing Lappenberg, is disposed to connect 
the passage, "which for long did so much harm to the study of early Eng- 
lish history," with the report, by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, of the mur- 
rain of the birds in 671 (Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2.29). See also Lap- 
penberg, A History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, ed. 1881 
(trans. Thorpe), 1. 291-2. 

00 Pp. 327 ff. 

61 In illustration of a close use of the Chronicle, observe the following 
(the Latin is Wheloc's) : 

Turn perquam cito postea populus Encouraged by this, the men of 

multus, cum de Cantio, turn de Kent, Surrey, and part of Essex, 

Suthregia, & East-Saxonia, turn de enterprise the siege of Colchester, 

proximis urbibus collectus, Coleces- nor gave over till they won it, sack- 

triam quoq ; adibat & obsidebat: ing the town and putting to sword 

tamque diu impugnabat, donee ex- all the Danes therein, excepting 

pugnabat : & populum ilium totum some who escaped over the wall, 

occidebat: (quicquid autem intus To the succour of these a great 

erat, diripiebat;) hominibus excep- number of Danes inhabiting ports 

tis, qui murum transilientes aufu- and other towns in the East- Angles 

gerant : verum etiam postea, hac united their force ; but coming too 

eadem asstate magnus exercitus late, as in revenge beleaguered 

East-anglorum, cum agros quidem Maldon (p. 330). 
turn portus incolentium se in auxil- 
ium conglomerarunt ; arbitrati quo- 
que posse suam ulcisci injuriam. 
Melodunum itaq ; prof ecti ; ur- 
bemque obsidentes, & impugnantes 
(Sax. Chron.. ed. Wheloc, p. 553). 



118 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



lie esteems the Encomium Emmce a source to be reckoned 
with. 52 When occasion warrants the relating of personal 
anecdotes, or the recounting of picturesque and dramatic 
scenes, he acknowledges the skill of Malmesbury and Hunting- 
don, both excellent story-tellers, who furnish him with the 
gossip and the color necessary for such portions of his nar- 
rative as the adventures of Edgar, 53 the Battle of Brunan- 



52 Pp. 364 ff. On p. 368, for instance, under the year 1036, Simeon and 
the Encomium Emmce are used collaterally (see Simeon 2. 158-9 ; Enc. 
Emmce, Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii Mvi 2. 497—8). An example 
of Milton's more faithful use of Simeon follows : 



Anno MXLII. Rex Anglorum Heard- 
ecanutus, dum in convivio, in quo 
Osgodus Clapa, magnse vir potential, 
filiam suam Githam Danico et prae- 
potenti viro Tovio, Frudan cogno- 
mento, in loco qui dicitur Lam- 
hithe, magna cum lsetitia tradebat 
nuptui, lsetus, sospes, et hilaris cum 
sponsa praedicta et quibusdam viris 
bibens staret, repente inter biben- 
dum miserabili casu ad terram cor- 
ruit, et sic niutus permanens VI. 
idus Junii feria iii. expiravit, et in 
Wintoniam delatus juxta patrem 
suum regem Canutum est tumulatus 
(Simeon 2. 162). 



But Hardecnute the year following, 
at a feast wherein Osgod a great 
Danish lord gave his daughter in 
marriage at Lambeth to Prudon 
another potent Dane, in the midst 
of his mirth, sound and healthful 
to sight, while he was drinking fell 
down speechless, and so dying, was 
buried at Winchester beside his 
father (p. 371). 



Canute in all haste sailing back to 
Sandwich, took the hostages given 
to his father from all parts of Eng- 
land, and with slit noses, ears 
cropped, and hands chopped off, 
setting them ashore, departed into 
Denmark (p. 357). 



Observe, also, the following: 

Ille vero fugse praesidio celeriter 
arrepto, versus austrum cursum 
dirigens, brevi Sandicum ad portum 
est appulsus, et obsides qui de tota 
Anglia patri suo dati fuerant in 
terram exposuit, illorumque mani- 
bus truncatis, auribus amputatis, 
naribus prsescissis abire permisit, 
et deinoeps profectus est Dane- 
marchiam, anno sequenti reversurus 
(Simeon 2. 147). 

Writing of the persecution and killing of Archbishop Alfage, Milton says 
(p. 355) : "One Thurn, a converted Dane, pitying him half dead, to put 
him out of pain, with a pious impiety, at one stroke of his axe on the 
head dispatched him." Firth (Proc. Brit. Acad. 1907-8, p. 246) seems to 
imply that the imaginative phrase, "with a pious impiety," is Milton's own. 
It was borrowed, however, from Florence's and Simeon's "impia motus 
pietate" (Florence of Worcester, ed. Thorpe, 1. 165; Simeon 2. 144). 

53 Pp. 342 ff. 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 119 

burn, 54 Cnut's lesson to flatterers, 55 Harold's visit to 
Normandy, 56 and the battle of Hastings. 57 But at almost 
any juncture he is likely to consult the pages of Ethelwerd, 
or Ingulf, or Florence, or Hoveden. Eadmer, Brompton, 
--Elred's Vita Edwardi, the laws of Edward the Confessor, 
and Matthew Paris, receive smaller recognition. 58 

The eclectic habit of mind illustrated when Milton handles 
a period in which several sources compete has both good and 
bad phases. Its advantage is that the author is led to con- 
sult an authority up to the full measure of what it can pro- 
fitably bestow. Milton can be depended upon, for instance, 
not to exclude Asser in favor of the Chronicle, or Bede in 
favor of Malmesbury. His judgment as to the comparative 
value of the sources before him is, generally speaking, that 
of a sound critic ; and when he excerpts from one or another, 
his reader may feel assured that he has a sufficient reason. 
The vice in this eclectic temper is that it produces bewildering 
effects. In Milton's zealous endeavor to ascertain where his 
authorities are honest and accurate, and where they are 
deceptive and heedless, he too frequently forgets to construct 
a theory of his own. He seldom has difficulty in picking 
them apart; yet it rarely occurs to him to gather the frag- 
ments into orderly array. Though he shows every sign of 
knowing what the principal writers say about the reputed 
British birth of Constantine, 59 he expresses no settled opinion 
himself. In his closely crowded narrative of the wars and 
genealogies of the Heptarchy ; 60 in his statement of the stories 
associated with JEthelstan ; G1 in his discussion of Harold 
Harefoot's origin, 62 and of the relations between Edward the 



"Pp. 334-5. 

55 Pp. 367-8. See below pp. 135-6. 

68 Pp. 384-5. 

6 " Pp. 390 ff. 

58 Pp. 347, 358, 360, 368, 384, 388. 

t9 P. 228. 

•"Pp. 301 ff. 

M Pp. 332 ff. 

•• P. 368. 



120 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Confessor and Duke William ; 63 and, in short, in many- 
passages where the sources conflict, Milton leaves his reader 
with the sense that the subject has been abandoned pre- 
maturely. 64 The investigator, it is felt, has performed his 
labor; as artist and critical collator, however, he has been 
neglectful. 

The objection that Milton is disposed to leave matters half- 
determined applies in far less degree to his chronology. 65 
Contradictions in dates are not so likely to impede him as 
discrepancies in incidents. In spite of Huntingdon's asser- 
tion as to the time of the founding of the East-Saxon kingdom, 
he adheres to his own conclusion that it was not long after 
the origin of the East-Anglian; 66 even the authority of Taci- 
tus cannot satisfy him that Caractacus resisted the Romans 
nine years, for a "truer computation" reveals that it was 
only seven. 67 Milton's chronology is, in large outline, con- 
firmed by later historians. 68 There is some interest, however, 



• 3 Pp. 384-5. 

64 Cf. Stern, Milton und seine Zeit, bk. 4. 136 : "Man sollte wiinschen, 
dass die Kritik Milton's sich hie und da nicht bloss a.uf eine bequeme 
Negative beschriinkt hatte . . . . Er uberlasst es haufig dem Leser, 
sich selbst ein Urtheil zu bilden und begniigt sich, die verschiedenen ein- 
ander widersprechenden Ueberlieferungen neben einander zu stellen." 

65 He disclaims any settled opinion as to the chronology of the legendary 
period. "Nor have I stood with others computing or collating years and 
chronologies," he asserts, "lest I should be vainly curious about the time 
and circumstance of things, whereof the substance is so much in doubt" 
(p. 184). Holinshed, on the other hand, says that "Brennus and Belinus 
began to reigne jointlie as kings in Britaine, in the yeare of the world 
3574" (Chronicles, ed. 1807-8, 1. 452). Stow assigns the beginning of 
Locrine's reign to 1084 B.C. (Annates, ed. 1631, p. 9). 

<" P. 257. 

eT P. 204. 

68 There are, of course, some inaccuracies. In certain cases Milton erred 
in his copying. The date 629 (p. 280), for example, should be 628, as it 
appears in the source (see Sax. Chron., ed. Wheloc, p. 514). See also 
Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. 24, and cf. Hodgkin, Hist, of Eng., p. 161. 
855, which appears on p. 199 of the first edition, should obviously be 865 
(the editor of the Bohn edition has substituted the correct date). Again, 
the date 953 (p. 339) should be 952, as it appears in Twysden's edition 
of Simeon, which Milton obviously used at this point (see Simeon 2. 952, 
and cf. Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2.148 and Hodgkin, p. 342). The 
marginal note (see 1st ed., p. 235; Bohn, p. 341) indicating that the date 
974 was derived from the Chronicle is wrong, for there is no entry for 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 121 

that year in any MS. Milton perhaps inferred the date from Malmesbury's 
account of Edgar's ride on the Dee River (Gesta Regum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 165). 

In other cases Milton was faithful to his source, but copied dates which 
have since been rejected. The date 681 (p. 289), for instance, which was 
derived from Wheloc, p. 517, is more probably 682 (see Sax. Ghron., ed. 
Plummer, 1. 38-9). As to the date 775 (p. 299), copied from Wheloc, p. 
524, see Sax. Chron., ed. Flummer, 1. 50-1 ; ibid. 2. 53-4 ; Hodgkin, p. 250. 
The date 837 (p. 310) should be 840 (see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2. 76 ; 
on the subject of dislocation of dates in the Chronicle from 754 to 839, 
and especially as to this date, see Theopold, Kritische Untersuchungen 
iiber die Quellen zur Angelsachsischen Geschichte, p. 43 ; on the general 
topic, see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2. ciii). The date 854 (p. 312), 
taken from Wheloc, p. 530, should be 855 (see Sax. Chron. 1. 66-7), and 
907 (p. 327) should be 906 (see Lappenberg, Hist, of Eng. under the 
Anglo-Saxon Kings, ed. 1881 (trans. Thorpe), 2.106; Sax. Chron. 1. 94-5). 
938 (the date appears on p. 225 of the first edition, but is omitted in the 
Bohn edition) should be 937 (see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. 107; Hodg- 
kin, p. 334). 

Milton struggles to identify the battle of Cerdicesleah, in 527, with the 
fight at Mount Badon (see p. 260). For Cerdic, he argues, having aban- 
doned his campaigns "on the continent," as well as his conquest of the 
Isle of Wight, must have been defeated by the Britons. There was a 
British victory at Badon, he adds, and that was surely the battle of Cerdi- 
cesleah. The weight of the evidence is, however, against Milton's theory. 
The date assigned by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle^ to Cerdic's battle — 527 — 
is probably reliable, and the Annales Cambrian give 516 as the year of 
Mount Badon, which Green and Guest would assign to 520 (see Green, 
Making of Eng., pp. 88 ff. ; Guest. E. E. Sett., pp. 61-3). 

A curious passage, showing Milton's extreme care, appears on p. 298. 
It is alleged that Cuthred died "two or three years before" 757, the date 
of ^Ithelbald's death. The words "or three," which are not found in the 
first edition, appear for the first time in the second edition (1677). The 
insertion, included among the Errata at the end of the first edition, and 
probably made during Milton's lifetime, was evidently intended to place 
/Ethelbald's death at the correct distance from Cuthred's, in 754 (see p. 
297). There is some uncertainty as to the date 757 (see Sax. Chron., ed. 
Plummer, 2.47). Milton himself, who found 757 (see marginal reference 
to sources on p. 176 of the 1st ed.) in Simeon of Durham (see Simeon 
1. 41) and in the Continuation of Bede (see Bede, ed. Plummer, 1. 362), 
but 755 in the Chronicle (see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. 46 ff. ; ibid., ed. 
Wheloc, pp. 521 ff.), preferred 757. 

For a typical chronological problem, see p. 245: ". . . . but sal- 
lying out, at length gave a stop to the insulting foe, with many season- 
able defeats ; led by some eminent person, as may be thought, who ex- 
horted them not to trust in their own strength, but in divine assistance. 
And perhaps no other here is meant than the aforesaid deliverance by 
German, if computation would permit, which Gildas either not much re- 
garded, or might mistake ; but that he tarried so long here, the writers 
of his life assent not." There is little wonder that Milton became con- 
fused. Usher cites Bede and Vincentius to the point that Germanus re- 
turned to Britain shortly after his first visit (see Usher, Be Primordiis, 



122 UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 

in making a cursory survey of his sources. For the Roman 
period, to which the Chronicle, and the Brito-Latin and Anglo- 
Latin writers, could supply little in the aggregate, he con- 
sults in the main the modern treatises, notably those of 
Usher, Calvisius, and Stow. These works, with occasional 
glances at Matthew of Westminster 69 and Florence, 70 ac- 
company him into the Third Book. Commencing with the 
Teutonic invasions, however, he follows the Chronicle, though 
with incidental reference to Florence, and in a measure to 
Bede. 71 In the Fourth Book, Bede and the Chronicle are 
employed together until the former is supplanted by Simeon. 
It is noteworthy, indeed, that from that point Simeon and 
the Chronicle furnish Milton with almost all his dates, con- 
tinuing to do so until the meagreness of Wheloc's version 
compels him to lay the Chronicle aside. 72 After 1017, he uses 
Simeon almost exclusively. The neat and convenient manner 
in which the years were listed in the margins of Twysden's 
edition went far, no doubt, towards inducing Milton and 
his amanuenses to accept the Historia Begum as a chrono- 
logical guide. 73 

Milton may accordingly be said to exercise a fairly keen 
critical faculty, both in the selecting of his authorities and 
in the comparative evaluation of them. 71 But he is at his 



Elrington ed. of Wks., 5. 434), and in a later passage he quotes Con- 
stantius and others to the effect that he died a little after the second. 
Milton, however, found it necessary to adjust the British transactions of 
Germanus to the long period beginning in 429, the year of his arrival in 
Britain (see first edition, p. 104; the Bohn editor incorrectly says 426). 
and ending in 448 (see p. 247). 

Cf. also p. 305: "In Northumberland, Eardulf the year following was 
driven out of his realm by Alfwold, who reigned two years in his room ; 
after whom Eandred son of Eardulf thirty-three years ; but I see not 
how this can stand with the sequel of story out of better authors." 

" 9 P. 244. 

76 P. 248. 

"Pp. 255, 261, 262. 

' 3 Wheloc offers little after 975, the date of Edgar's death. Milton's 
last date from the Chronicle is 1017, the year of Cnut's accession. 

" Milton used Simeon's Historia Dnnelmensis Ecclesice,, as well as the 
Historia Regum. Simeon's writings did not appear in a printed edition 
until 1652, when these histories were included in Roger Twysden's Scrip- 
tores Decern. 

"An excellent illustration of the scrutiny with which Milton compared 
his sources occurs in the following passage on p. 378 : "King Edward on 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 123 

the other side made ready above sixty ships at Sandwich well stored with 
men and provisions." Simeon (Historia Regum 2. 16&), wno, with an in- 
cidental glance at John of Brompton, has been closely followed for the 
events of the year 1052, speaks of forty ships. Malmesbury, whose name 
appears directly at the side of this passage in the margin of the first edi- 
tion, says (Gesta Regum 1. 243) : "Contra quos, a regis parte, plusquam 
sexaginta naves in anchoris constiterunt." It is likely that the discovery 
of this slight variation prompted Milton to turn from the one narrative 
to the other. 

See also p. 190 : "Four days after the coming of Caesar, those eighteen 
ships .... were by a sudden tempest scattered and driven back, 
some .... down into the west country ; who finding there no 
safety either to land or to cast anchor, chose rather to commit themselves 
again to the troubled sea ; and, as Orosius reports, were most of them 
cast away." Caesar, whose Commentaries are used at this point, does not 
say that most of the ships were cast away. Hence this mention of 
Orosius' account (Historiarum adversum Paganos Libri VII, ed. Zange- 
meister, p. 378). 

An interesting example of source-collation is the fixing of the boundaries 
of Old Saxony (see p. 248). Old Saxony, in the larger sense, extended 
from the Elbe to the Rhine (Speed, Hist. Gr. Brit., ed. 1627, p. 286). 
Ethelwerd (see Chronicorum Libri IV, ed. Petrie, p. 501) adds that the 
Saxons stretched from the Rhine to Denmark. In connection with these 
data, Milton reads Usher's description of the narrower Old Saxony, or 
Holsatia, finding it bounded on the north by the Eider (Elrington ed. of 
Wks., 5. 447). 

See also p. 284: ". . . . for Beda relates him [Kenwalk] oft- 
times afflicted by his enemies, with great losses: and in six hundred and 
fifty-two, by the annals, fought a battle (civil war Ethelwerd calls it) at 
Bradanford by the river Afene — Camden names the place Bradford in 
Wiltshire, by the river Avon, and Cuthred his near kinsman, against 
whom he fought, but cites no authority." The reference to the Annals, 
as Milton calls the Chronicle, is based upon the following: "652. Her 
Cenwalh gefeaht set Bradan forda be Afue." The mention of Ethelwerd 
is then prompted by the passage: "Post itaque quadriennium, ipse bel- 
lum gessit civile, in cognominato loco Bradanforda, juxta fluvium Afene" 
(Ethelwerd, ed. Petrie, p. 506). 

The same care appears in a passage on p. 292 : "Victred, loth to hazard 
all, for the rash act of a few, delivered up thirty of those that could be 
found accessory, or as others say, pacified Ina with a great sum of 
money." Cf. Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 34) : "Temptant 
regium animum muneribus, sollicitant promissis, nundinantur pacem 
triginta milibus auri mancis, ut pretio mollitus bellum solveret, metallo 
praestrictus receptui caneret." 

Again, Wheloc's Latin is: "Hie Ethelbaldus castellum de Somertone 
obsidione cinxit" {Sax. Chron., ed. Wheloc, p. 520). Ethelwerd says (ed. 
Petrie, p. 507) : "^thelbald rex in potestatem cepit villam regiam." 
Milton, translating both castellum and villa, writes (p. 296) : "Ethelbald 
o ? Mercia besieged and took the castle or town of Somerton." Cf. p. 316 
(passage beginning the Danes, not daring), where Milton translates arx 
(Asser, De Rebus Gestis JElfredi, ed. Stevenson, p. 25) "town and castle" ; 
p. 323 (passage beginning and on the bank thereof), where he translates 
arcem (Sax. Chron,, ed. Wheloc, p. 544) "a castle"; and p. 330 (passage 



124 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

best in the literary methods he pursues when the source-texts 
are converted into a new fabric of his own. Here he is the 
artist, no less than the critic. In his use of the modern com- 
pilers, whom he consults either for general direction or for 
borrowing's of minor consequence, there is no opportunity to 
give these methods free play, and little stimulus to exercise 
the imaginative and constructive faculties. It is when he sets 
out to translate the older writers — Cgesar, or Tacitus, or 
Bede, or Huntingdon — that both his literary scholarship and 
his literary art stand forth. Should any one desire to know 
how far freedom and fidelity may be conserved together in 
the translating of Latin texts, he can do no better than to 
compare passages in the History of Britain with their 
originals. Doing so, he discerns the fine quality of Milton's 
feeling for both Latin and English idiom, and the subtle 
adaptability with which he could bear both in mind at one 
time ; his alert sense of the proper scope of condensation and 
amplification ; and his intense interest in translation as an 
art. It is not word by word that he follows his sources, nor 
line by line ; but with a certain flexible sympathy that catches 
the whole meaning of entire passages, suffusing them, in the 
process, with independent charm. 75 The boy who wrote Latin 
poems at Cambridge is reflected in the mature author of the 
History of Britain. 

In order to illustrate Milton's rendering of the Latin texts, 
I have chosen a few specimens, which .show both original and 



beginning whereupon the English, from towns and cities), where he trans- 
lates bur gum (ed. Wheloc, p. 552) "town and castle." 

For miscellaneous collations, see p. 189 (on Csesar's landing in Britain) ; 
p. 219 (on the events succeeding Agricola's governorship) ; pp. 220—1 (on 
the historicity of King Lucius) ; p. 250 (on the aggressions of the Scots 
and Picts) ; p. 252 (on Guortimer's encounters with the Saxons) ; p. 256 
(on King Nazaleod) ; p. 258 (a comparison of Gildas with the "Saxon 
relators") ; p. 295 (a comparison of Bede with the Chronicle) ; p. 305 (on 
the period of Eanred's reign) ; p. 309 (on the extent of the slaughter at 
the Carr River) ; p. 334 (on the nomenclature of Brunanburh) ; p. 342 
(on Edgar's dominion) ; p. 349 (on ^thelred's entertainment of Anlaf) ; 
p. 361 (on the alleged identity of "Sherastan" and "Scorastan") ; p. 364 
(on the manner of Eadric's death) ; p. 370 (on the place of Harold Hare- 
foot's death) ; and p. 384 (on Tostig's revenge). 

75 In general, Milton's translations are also notable for their concise- 
ness. Compare, for example, the two translations below. The original, 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 



125 



adaptation, and which I now submit. The following transla- 
tion of Geoffrey reveals the ability of the translator to 
convert a story told in the ancient tongue into the "plain 
and lightsom brevity ' ' with which he proposed to distinguish 
his version of the pre-Roman fables. 76 



Post ilium Arthgallo frater ejus 
regio diademate insignitur, qui in 
omnibus suis actibus germano di- 
versus extitit. Nobiles namque 
ubique laborabat deponere, et ig- 
nobiles exaltare, divitibus quibus- 
que sua auferre, infinitos thesauros 
accumulans. Quod heroes regni 
diutius ferre recusantes, insurrex- 
erunt in ilium, et a solio regio de- 
posuerunt. Erexerunt exinde Eli- 
durum fratrem ejus, qui postea 
propter misericordiam, quam in 
fratrem fecit, Pius vocatus fuit: 
nam cum regnum emenso quin 



Archigallo, the second brother, 
followed not his example; but de- 
pressed the ancient nobility; and, 
by peeling the wealthier sort, 
stuffed his treasury, and took the 
right way to be deposed. 

Elidure, the next brother, sur- 
named the Pious, was set up in 
his place: a mind so noble, and so 
moderate, as almost is incredible 
to have been ever found. For, 
having held the sceptre five years, 
hunting one day in the forest of 
Calater, he chanced to meet his de- 
posed brother, wandering in a 



which is an extract from a purported letter of Queen Emma in the En- 
comium Emmce Regince (see Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii Mvi 
2.497), reads: "Miror quid captetis consilii, dum sciatis, intermissionis 
vestrse dilatione, invasoris vestri imperii fieri cotidie soliditatem." 



Milton (p. :;69 i. 

I admire what Counsel yee take, 
knowing that your delay, is a daily 
strengthning to the Reign of your 
Usurper. 



Holinshed (Chronicles, ed. 1807-8, 
1. 734). 

I marvell what you doo deter- 
mine, sith you know by the delay 
of your ceassing to make some en- 
terprise, the grounded force of the 
usurper of your kingdom is dailie 
made the stronger. 

It is pertinent here to quote Professor Wendell's apt comment on the 
Latinity of Milton's prose : "We might study in some detail the 
fact that he [Milton] was among the last writers of English prose who. 
when moved to earnest expression, instinctively thought in Latin terms; 
and who therefore suffused what they supposed to be vernacular expres- 
sion with such sustained and sonorous rhythm as would have animated 
their phrases if they had actually written Latin" (Barrett Wendell, The 
Temper of the 11th Cent, in Eng. Lit., pp. 307-8). 

76 P. 165. Milton says (ibid.) : "I have therefore determined to bestow 
the telling over even of these reputed tales ; be it for nothing else but in 
favour of our English poets and rhetoricians, who by their art will know 
how to use them judiciously." Wordsworth, having read this passage, 
wrote his Artegal and Elidure "as a token of affectionate respect for the 
memory of Milton." For Milton's version of the story, see p. 182. 



126 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



quennio possedisset, forte in Cala- 
therio nemore venans, obviavit 
fratri siio qui depositus fuerat. 
Ipse vero peragratis quibuscunque 
provincialibus regnis auxilium 
qusesiverat, ut amissum honorem 
recuperare quiviaset, nee usquani 
invenerat : et cum supervenientern 
paupertatem diutius ferre non po- 
tuisset, reversus est in Britanniam, 
decern solummodo militibus soei- 
atus. Petens ergo illos quos du- 
dum habuerat amicos, prasdictum 
nemus p raster ibat: quum Elidurus 
ipsius frater ipsum non speratum 
aspexit. Quo viso, cucurrit Eli- 
durus, et amplexatus est ilium, in- 
finita oscula ingeminans. Et ut 
diu miseriam fratris deflevit, duxit 
ilium secum in civitatem Alclud, 
et in thalamo suo occuluit. 77 



mean condition ; who had been 
long in vain beyond the seas, im- 
portuning foreign aids to his re- 
storement ; and was now, in a poor 
habit, with only ten followers, 
privately returned to find subsis- 
tence among his secret friends. 
At the unexpected sight of him, 
Elidure himself also then but 
thinly accompanied, runs to him 
with open arms; and after many 
dear and sincere welcomings, con- 
veys him to the city Alclud; there 
hides him in his own bedchamber." 



77 Geoffrey, ed. San Marte, pp. 41-2. 

78 P. 182. 

Milton frequently adorns his material with effective dramatic and rhe- 
torical touches. Compare the following: 

In his rebus circiter dies decern and with a dreadful in- 

consumit, ne nocturnis quidem tern- dustry of ten days, not respiting 

poribus ad laborem militum inter- the soldiers day or night, drew up 

missis (Caesar, ed. Celsus (London, all his ships (p. 193). 

1819), 1. 183). 

Further : and the soldiers on either 

Pugnare adversus suos propinquos side soon declared their resolution 

et compatriotas pene omnes abhor- not to fight English against Bng- 

rebant (Simeon of Durham, ed. lish (p. 379). 
Arnold, 2. 169). 



Further : 

Quod neque insequi cedentes pos- 
sent, neque ab signis discedere 
auderent (Caesar 1.188). 



Further : 

Hoc anno de tota Anglia LXXII. 
millia et de Londonia XV. millia 
librae exercitui Danorum sunt per- 
solutse (Simeon 2. 155. With col- 
lateral use of Henry of Hunting- 
don and Matthew of Westminster). 



for that the foot in heavy 

armour could not follow their cun- 
ning flight, and durst not by ancient 
discipline stir from their ensign 
(p. 194). 

to maintain which, the 

next year he squeezed out of the 
English, though now his subjects, 
not his enemies, seventy-two, some 
say, eighty-two thousand pounds, 
besides fifteen thousand out of Lon- 
don (p. 364). 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 



127 



In Milton's rendering of Geoffrey's account of Lear and 
his daughters, special attention is called to the italicized 
passages. 



Dato igitur fatis Bladud, erigi- 
tur Leir ejusdem filius in regem, 
qui sexaginta annis patriam virili- 
ter rexit. iEdificavit autem super 
fluvium Soram civitatem, quae Bri- 
tannice Kaerleir, Saxonice vero 
Leir-Cestre nuncupatur : Cui ne- 
gata masculini sexus prole, nata? 
sunt tantummodo tres Alias, vo- 
eatse: Gonorilla, Began, Cordeilla. 
Qui eas miro amore sed magis natu 
minimam, Cordeillam videlicet, di- 
ligebat. Cunique in senectutem 
vergere coepisset, cogitavit regnum 
suum ipsis dividere: easque tali- 



Further : 

Crebra hinc praelia (Tacitus, 

Annates, ed. Furneaux, 2. 263). 

Cf. also: 

Et nox quidem gaudio prsedaque 
]»ta victoribus (Tacitus, Vita Agri- 
colae, ed. Furneaux, p. 148). 

Again (observe Milton's rhetorical 
independence) : 

Moris namque continui erat genti, 
sicut et nunc est, ut infirma esset 
ad retundenda hostium tela et for- 
tis esset ad civilia bella et pecca- 
torum onera sustinenda, infirma, in- 
quam, ad exequenda pacis ac veri- 
tatis insignia et fortis ad scelera 
et mendacia (Gildas, De Excidio et 
Conquestu Britannice, ed. Momms- 
en. In Monumenta Germanice His- 
torica, Auct. Ant. 13.36). 

Again : 

Quibus omnibus ad velle peractis 
(Simeon 2. 145). 

Again : 

Vallum magnum impera- 

vit (Asser, De Rebus Gestis 3SI- 
fredi, ed. Stevenson, p. 12). 



Hitherto, from father to son, the 
direct line hath run on: but Leir, 
who next reigned, had only three 
daughters, and no male issue: 
governed laudibly and built Cur- 
lier, now Leicester, on the bank of 
Sora. But at last, falling through 
age, he determined to bestow his 
daughters, and so among them to 
divide his kingdom. Yet first, to 
try which of them loved him best, 
(a trial that might have made 
him, had he known as wisely how 
to try, as he seemed to know how 
much the trying behooved him,) he 

small frays and bicker- 
ings (p. 205). 



The Romans jocund of this vic- 
tory, and the spoil they got, spent 
the night (p. 218). 



And this quality their valour had. 
against a foreign enemy to be ever 
backward and heartless ; to civil 
broils eager and prompt. In mat- 
ters of government, and the search 
of truth, weak and shallow ; in 
falsehood and wicked deeds, preg- 
nant and industrious (p. 2461. 



These things flowing to his wish 
(p. 356). 



He drew a trench of wpnderous 
length (p. 302). 



128 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



bus maritis copulare, qui easdem 
cum regno haberent. Sed ut sciret 
quae illarum ma j ore regni parte 
dignior esset, adivit sirigulas ut in- 
terrogaret, quae ipsum magis dili- 
geret. Interrogante ergo illo Gon- 
orilla prius numina ca>li testata 
est, patrem sibi plus eordi esse 
quam animam, qua? in eorpore suo 
degebat: eui pater: " Quoniam se- 
neetutem meam vitas tuse praepo- 
suisti, te, eharissima filia, maritabo 
juveni quemcunque elegeris cum 
tertia parte Britannia;.".... De- 
lude Began, qua- secunda erat, ex- 
emplo sororis suce benivolentiam 
■patris allicere volens, jurejurando 
respondit: se nullatenus concep- 
tum exprimere aliter posse, nisi 
quod ipsum super omnes creaturas 
diligeret. Credulus ergo pater 
eadem dignit'ate, quam primoge- 
nita; promiserat, cum alia tertia 
parte regni earn maritavit. At 
Cordeilla ultima, cum intellexissei 
i' tun pratdictarum adulationibus ac- 
quievisse: tentarc ilium cupiens 
aliter respondere perrexit : ' ' Est 
uspiam, mi pater, filia, qua; patrem 
suum plus quam patrem diligere 
prsesumat? non reor equidem ul- 
lam esse, qua; hoe fateri audeat : 
nisi jocosis verbis veritatem celare 
nitatur. Nempe ego dilexi te 
semper ut patrem: nee adbue a 
proposito meo divertor. Etsi a me 
magis extorquere insistis, audi cer- 
titudinem amoris, quern ad versus 
te habeo: et interrogationibus tuis 
finem impone. Etenim quantum 
habes, tantum vales, tantumque te 
diligo. " .... Porro pater ratus, 
earn ex abundantia cordis dixisse. 
vehementer indignans, quod re- 
sponsurus erat manifestare non 



resolves a simple resolution, to ask 
them solemnly in order; and which 
of them should profess largest, her 
to believe. Gonorill, the eldest, 
apprehending too well her father '& 
weakness, makes answer, invoking 
Heaven, ' ' That she loved him 
above her soul. " " Therefore, ' ' 
quoth the old man, overjoyed 
"since thou so honourest my de 
dining age, to thee and the hus- 
band thou shalt choose, I give the 
third part of my realm. ' ' So fair 
a speeding, for a few luords soon 
uttered, was to Began, the second, 
ample instruction irhat to say 
She, on the same demand, spares 
no protesting; and the gods mu.st 
witness, that otherwise to express 
her thoughts she knew not, but 
that ' ' She loved him above all 
creatures;" and so receives an 
equal reward with her sister. But 
Cordeilla, the youngest, though. 
hitherto best beloved, and now be- 
fore her eyes the rich and present 
hire of a little easy soothing, the 
danger also, and the loss likely to 
betide plain dealing, yet moves not 
from the solid purpose of a sin- 
cere and virtuous answer: "Fath- 
er," saith she, "my love towards 
you is as my duty bids: what 
should a father seek, what can a 
child promise more? They, who 
pretend beyond this, flatter." 
When the old man, sorry to hear 
this, and wishing her to recall 
those words, persisted asking; 
with a loyal sadness at her fath- 
er 's infirmity, but something, on 
the sudden, harsh, and glancing 
rather at her sisters than speak- 
ing her own mind, "Two ways 
only, ' ' saith she, ' ' I have to an- 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 



129 



distulit : ' ' Quia in tantum senectu- 
tem patris tui sprevisti, ut vel eo 
amore, quo me sorores tuae dili- 
gunt, dedignata es diligere, et ego 
te dedignabor, nee usquam in reg- 
no meo cum tuis sororibus partem 

habebis Non dieo tamen, cum 

filia mea sis, quin te externc 
alicui (si ilium fortuna obtulerit) 
uteunque maritem. Illud autem 
affirmo, quod numquam eo houore 
quo sorores tuas te maritare la 
borabo. Quippe cum te hucusque 
plus quam ceteras dilexerim: tu 
vero me minus quam cetera? dili- 
gas." ....Nee mora: consilio 
procerum regni dedit praedietas 
puellas duas duobus ducibus, Cor- 
nubia? videlicet et Albania? cum 
medietate tantum insula?: dum 
ipse viveret. Post obitum autem 
ejus totam monarehiam Britannia; 
eisdem concessit habendam. 79 



swer what you require me: the 
former, your command is, I should 
recant; accept then this other 
which is left me; look how much 
you have, so much is your value, 
and so much I love you. " " Then 
hear thou, ' ' quoth Leir, now all in 
passion, "what thy ingratitude 
hath gained thee: because thou 
hast not reverenced thy aged father 
equal to thy sisters, part in my 
isingdom, or what else is mine, 
reckon to have none. ' ' And, with- 
out delay, gives in marriage his 
other daughters, Gonorill to Mag- 
launus duke of Albania, Regan to 
Henninus duke of Cornwal; with 
them in present half his kingdom; 
the rest to follow at his death. 80 



"Geoffrey, pp. 24-6. 

80 Pp. 175-6. 

Imaginative ardor obtains freer rein in the metrical rendering- of the 
oracular verses delivered to the legendary Brutus by Diana. The source 
and the translation follow: 



Brute, sub occasu solis trans Gal- 
lica regna, 
Insula in Oceano est undique 
clausa mari : 
Insula in Oceano est habitata Gy- 
gantibus olim, 
Nunc deserta quidem : gentibus 
apta tuis. 
Hanc pete ; namque tibi sedes erit 
ilia perennis: 
Hie net natis altera Troja tuis: 
Hie de prole tua reges nascentur: 
et ipsis 
Totius terrse subditus orbis erit 
(Geoffrey, p. 13). 



Brutus, far to the west, in th' ocean 

wide, 
Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land 

there lies, 
Seagirt it lies, where giants dwelt 

of old, 
Now void it fits thy people ; thither 

bend 
Thy course, there shalt thou find a 

lasting seat, 
Where to thy sons another Troy 

shall rise ; 
And kings be born of thee, whose 

dreaded might 
Shall awe the world, and conquer 

nations bold (p. 171). 



Of somewhat like interest is the translation of the Latin couplet dis- 
closing the murder of Kenelm, and found by Milton in the Flores Histori- 



130 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



In the ensuing, Milton blends his own characteristic fluency 
with Caasar's plain directness. 



At illi, intermisso spatio, impru- 
dentibus nostris atque occupatis 
in munitione castrorum, subito se 
ex sylvis ejeeerunt, impetuque in 
eos facto, qui erant in statione 
pro castris collocati, acriter pug- 
naverunt: duabusque missis sub- 
sidio cohortibus a Csesare, atque 
bis primis legionum duaruin, cum 
has perexiguo intermisso loci spatio 
inter se, constitissent, novo genere 
pugnas perterritis nostris, per me- 
dios audacissime perruperunt, se- 
que inde incolumes receperunt. 81 



Here the British horse and chari- 
oteers .... after some pause, while 
Cassar, who thought the day's 
work had been done, was busied 
about the intrenching of his camp, 
march out again, give fierce as- 
sault to the very stations of his 
guards and sentries; and while the 
main cohorts of two legions, that 
were sent to the alarm, stood 
within a small distance of each 
other, terrified at the newness and 
boldness of their fight, charged 
back again through the midst, 
without the loss of a man." 2 



Milton frequently condenses, and with considerable dis- 
crimination. Compare the extracts below, with special refer- 
ence to the italicized passages. 



Ceterum animorum provinciae 
prudens, simulque doctus per 
aliena experimenta parum profici 
armis, si iniuria? sequerentur, cau- 
sas bellorum statuit excidere. a se 
suisque orsus primum domum suani 
coercuit, quod plerisque haud min- 
us arduum est quam provinciam 
regere. nihil per libertos servos- 
que publicce rei, non studiis pri- 
vatis nee ex commendatione aut 



But by far not so famous was 
Agricola in bringing war to a 
speedy end, as in cutting off the 
causes from whence war arises. 
For he knowing that the end of 
war was not to make way for in- 
juries in peace, began reformation 
from his own house; permitted 
not his attendants and followers 
to sway, or have to do at all in 
public affairs: lays on with equal- 



arutn of the imaginary Matthew of Westminster. The couplet reads 

(Flor. Hist. 1. 412) : 

In elene sub spina jacet in convalle bovina, 
Vertice privatus, Kenelmus rege creatus. 

Milton's translation is (p. 306) : 

Low in the mead of kine under a thorn, 

Of head bereft, lieth poor Kenelm kingborn. 

For a more prosaic treatment, compare Speed, Hist. Gr. Brit., ed. 1627, 

p. 322. 

81 Csesar, ed. Celsus, 1.187. 

82 P. 194. 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 



131 



precibus centurionem militesve as 
cire, sed optimum quemque fidissi- 
mum putare. omnia scire, non 
omnia exsequi. parvis peccatis 
veniam, magnis severitatem com- 
modore; nee poena semper, sed soe- 
pius poenitentia contentus esse; of- 
ficiis et administrationibus potius 
non peccaturos prceponere, quam 
damnare cum peccassent. frumen- 
ti et tributorum exactionem gequal- 
itate munerum mollire, eircumcisis 
quae in qusestum reperta ipso tri- 
buto gravius tolerabantur. nam- 
que per ludibrium adsidere clausis 
horreis et emere ultro frumenta ac 
ludere pretio eogebautur. divortia 
itinerum et longinquitas regionum 
indicebatur, ut civitates proximis 
hibernis in remota et avia defer- 
rent, donee quod omnibus in 
promptu erat paucis lucrosum fier- 
et. 

Haec primo statim anno compri- 
mendo egregiam famam paei cir- 
eumdedit, quae vel ineuria vel in- 
tolerantia priorum haud minus 
quam bellum timebatur. sed ubi 
oestas advenit, contracto exercitu 
multus in agmine, laudare modes- 
tiam, disiectos coercere; loca cas- 
tris ipse capere, ozstuaria ac silvas 
ipse proetemptare ; et nihil interim 
apud hostis quietum pati, quo min- 
us subitis excursibus popidaretur ; 
atque ubi satis terruerat, parcendo 
rursus invitamenta pads ostentare. 
quibus rebus multce civitates, qua; 
in ilium diem ex aequo egerant, 
datis obsidibus iram posuere, et 
prozsidiis castellisque circumdatoz 
sunt tanta ratione curaque, ut nul- 
la ante Britannioe nova pars pari- 
ter illacessita- transient. 

Sequens hiems saluberri mis con- 



ity the proportions of corn and 
tribute that were imposed; takes 
off exactions, and the fees of en- 
croaching officers, heavier than the 
tribute itself. For the countries 
had been compelled before, to sit 
and wait the opening of public 
granaries, and both to sell and to 
buy their corn at what rate the 
publicans thought fit; the purvey- 
ors also commanding when they 
pleased to bring it in, not to the 
nearest, but still to the remotest 
places, either by the compounding 
of such as would be excused, or by 
causing a dearth, where none was, 
made a particular gain. These 
grievances and the lite, he in the 
time of peace removing, brought 
peace into some credit; which be- 
fore, since the Eomans coming, 
had as ill a name as war. The 
summer following, Titus then em- 
peror, he so continually with in- 
roads disquieted the enemy over all 
the isle, and after terror so allur- 
ed them with his gentle demean- 
our, that many cities which till 
that time would not bend, gave 
hostages, admitted garrisons, and 
came in voluntarily. The winter 
he spent all in worthy actions; 
teaching and promoting like a 
public father the institutes and 
customs of civil life. The inhabi- 
tants rude and scattered, and by 
that the proner to war, he so per- 
suaded to build houses, temples, 
and seats of justice; and by prais- 
ing the forward, quickening the 
slow, assisting all, turned the 
name of necessity into an emula- 
tion. He caused moreover the 
noblemen's sons to be bred up in 
liberal arts; and by preferring the 



132 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



siliis absumpta. namque ut homi- 
nes dispersi ac rudes eoque in bel- 
la faciles quieti et otio per volup- 
tates adsuescerent, hortari priva- 
tim, adiuvare publice, ut templa 
fora domos extruerent, laudando 
promptos et castigando segnes : ita 
honoris aemulatio pro necessitate 
erat. iani vero principum filios 
liberalibus artibus erudire, et in- 
genia Britannorum studiis Gallor- 
u m anteferre, ut qui modo linguam 
Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam 
concupiscerent. inde etiam habitus 
nostri honor et frequens toga, 
paulatimque diseessum ad deleni- 
menta vitiorum, porticus et balinea 
et conviviorum elegantiam. idque 
apud imperitos humanitas vocaba- 
tur, cum pars servitutis esset. 83 



wits of Britain before the studies 
of Gallia, brought them to affect 
the Latin eloquence, who before 
hated the language. Then were 
the Roman fashions imitated, and 
the gown ; after a while the incite- 
ments also and materials of vice, 
and voluptuous life, proud build- 
ings, baths, and the elegance of 
banqueting; which the foolisher 
sort called civility, but was indeed 
a secret art to prepare them for 
bondage ** 



It is interesting to notice the graceful ease with which he 
weaves his own comment on Redwald's attitude towards re- 
ligion into the straightforward account of the Ecclesiastical 
History. 



Et quidem pater eius Reduald 
iamdudum in Cantia sacramentis 
Christiana? fidei inbutus est, sed 
frustra; nam rediens domum ab 
uxore sua et quibusdam peruersis 
doctoribus seductus est, atque a 
sinceritate fidei deprauatus habuit 
posteriora peiora prioribus; ita ut 
in morem antiquorum Samaritan- 
orum et Christo seruire uideretur 
et diis, quibus antea seruiebat; at- 
que in eodem fano et altare hab- 
eret ad sacrificium Christi, et aru- 
lam ad uictimas daemoniorum. 85 



He had formerly in Kent re- 
ceived baptism, but coming home, 
and persuaded by his wife, who 
still it seems was his chief coun- 
sellor to good or bad alike, re- 
lapsed into his old religion: yet 
not willing to forego his new, 
thought it not the worst way, lest 
perhaps he might err in either, for 
more assurance to keep them 
both; and in the same temple 
erected one altar to Christ, another 
to his idols. s6 



83 Tacitus, Vit. Agric, ed. Furneaux, pp. 113-8. 

84 Pp. 213-4. 

85 Bede, Ecclesiastical History, ed. Plummer, 1. 116. 
88 P. 276. 

Milton displays considerable skill in the manipulation of parenthetical 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 



133 



Although the following passages show ruthless condensa- 
tion, the translator contrives to express his feeling against 
mediaeval asceticism. 



Accepit autem rex Ecgfrid con- 
iugem nomine iEdilthrydam, filiani 
Anna regis Orientalium Anglorum, 
cuius sepius mentionem fecimus, 
uiri bene religiosi, ac per omnia 
mente et opere egregii; quam et 
alter ante ilium uir habuerat uxo- 
rem, princeps uidelicet Australium 
Gyruiorum uoc-abulo Tondberct. 
Sed illo post modicum temporis. 
ex quo earn accepit, defuncto, data 
est regi praefato; cuius consortio 
cum xii annis uteretur, perpetna 
tamen mansit uirginitatis integri- 
tate gloriosa; sicut mibimet scisci- 
tanti, cum boc, an ita esset, qui- 
busdam uenisset iu dubium, beahe 
memorias Uilfrid episeopus refers- 
bat, dicens se testem integritatis 
eius esse certissimum; adeo ut 
Ecgfridus promiserit se ei terras 
ac pecunias multas esse dona t ar- 
um, si reginae posset persuadere 
eius uti conubio, quia sciebat illam 
nullum uirorum plus illo diligere. 
Nee diffidendum est nostra etiam 
aatate fieri potuisse, quod aeuo 
praecedente aliquoties factum fidel- 
es historian narrant; donante uno 



Another adversity befel Ecfrid 
in bis family, by means of Ethild- 
rith bis wife, king Anna's daugh- 
ter, who having taken him for her 
husband, and professing to love 
him above all other men, persisted 
twelve years in the obstinate re- 
fusal of his bed, thereby thinking 
to live the purer life. So per 
versely then was chastity instruct- 
ed against the apostle's rule. At 
length obtaining of him with much 
importunity her departure, she 
veiled herself a nun, then made 
abbess of Ely, died seven years 
after the pestilence; and might 
with better warrant have kept 
faithfully her undertaken wedlock, 
though now canonized St. Audrey 
of Ely. 88 



Compare with its Latin source the text within the parentheses 



matter, 
below. 

Cognomento quidem colonial non 
insigne, sed copia negotiatorum et 
commeatuum maxime celebre (Taci- 
tus, Annates 2. 431). 



But Suetonius at these tidings not 
dismayed, through the midst of his 
enemy's country, marches to Lon- 
don (though not termed a colony, 
yet full of Roman inhabitants, and 
for the frequency of trade, and 
other commodities, a town even 
then of principal note) with purpose 
to have made there the seat of war 
(p. 209). 



134 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

eodemque Domino, qui se nobiscuui 
usque in finem sa)culi manere pol- 
licetur. Nam etiam signum diuini 
miraculi, quo eiusdem feminas so 
pulta caro corrumpi non potuit, 
indicio est, quia uirili contactu in- 
corrupt', durauerit. 

Quat multum diu regem postu- 
lans, ut sseculi curas relinquere, at- 
que in monasterio, tantum uero 
regi Christo seruire permitteretur; 
ubi uix aliquando inpetrauit, ln- 
trauit monasterium Aebbae abba- 
tissae, quae erat amita regis Ecg- 
fridi, positum in loco, quem Coludi 
urbem nominant, aecepto uelamine 
sanctimonialis habitus a praefalo 
antistite Uilfrido. Post annum 
uero ipsa facta est abbatissa in 
regione, quae uocatur Elge; ubi 
constructo monasterio uirginum 
Deo deuotarum perplurium mater 
uirgo, et exemplis uitae caelestis 
esse eoepit et monitis. De qua fer- 
unt, quia, ex quo monasterium 
petiit, numquam lineis, sed solum 
laneis uestimentis uti uoluerit; 
raroque in calidis balneis, praster 
inminentibus sollemniis maioribus, 
uerbi gratia paschas, pentecostes, 
epifaniae, lauari uoluerit; et tuuc 
nouissima omnium, lotis prius suo 
suarumque ministrarum obsequio 
ceteris, quae ibi essent, famulis 
Christi; raro praeter maiora sol- 
lemnia, uel artiorem necessitatem, 
plus quam semel per diem mandu- 
cauerit; semper, si non infirmifas 
grauior prohibuisset, ex tempore 
matutinae synaxeos, usque ad or- 
tum diei, in ecclesia precibus in- 
tenta persteterit. Sunt etiam, qui 
dicant, quia per prophetiae spiri- 
tum, et pestilentiam, qua ipsa es- 
set moritura, prasdixerit, et nu- 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 



135 



merum quoque eorum, qui de suo 
monasterio hac essent de mundo 
rapiendi, palam cunctis prassenti- 
bus intimauerit. Rapta est autem 
ad Dominum in medio suornm, 
post annos VII, ex quo abbatissas 
gradum susceperat ; et teque, ut 
ipsa iusserat, non alibi quam in 
medio eorum, iuxta ordinem, quo 
transierat, ligneo in locello sepul- 
ta." 



In the following passages one may observe Milton's treat- 
ment of episodic material found in Huntingdon and Malmes- 
bury. 



Tertium, quod cum maximo vi- 
gore imperii, sedile suum in littore 
maris, cum ascenderet, statui jussit. 
Dixit autem mari ascendenti "Tu 
mese ditionis es; et terra in qua 
sedeo mea est: nee fuit qui impurie 
meo resisteret imperio. Impero 
igitur tibi ne in terrain meam as- 
cendas, nee vestes nee membra 
dominatoris tui madefaeere pra> 
sumas. " Mare vero de more con- 
scendens pedes regis et crura sine 
reverentia madefeeit. Rex igitur 
resiliens ait: " Sciant omnes ha'tii- 
tantes orbem, vanam et frivolam 



He caused his royal seat to be 
set on the shore, while the tide 
was coming in; and with all the 
state that royalty could put into 
his countenance, said thus to the 
sea ; ' ' Thou, Sea, belongest to me, 
and the land whereon I sit is 
mine; nor hath any one unpunish- 
ed resisted my commands: ] 
charge thee come no further upon 
my land, neither presume to wet 
the feet of thy sovereign lord. ' ' 
But the sea, as before, came roil- 
ing on, and without reverence both 
wet and dashed him. Whereat'the 



87 Ecclesiastical History, ed. Plummer, 1. 243-4. 

88 P. 291. In the passage immediately following the account of St. 
Audrey's death, the translator manages to include one of his character- 
istic attacks against Ireland (see also pp. 197, 223 ; also Eikonoklastes 

(Bohn 1. 407 ff.), First Def. (Bohn 1. 201), Oberv. Art. P. (Bohn 2. 181), 
and Of. Ref. (ed. Hale, pp. 57-8). Cf. source and translation: 



Anno dominicse incarnationis 
DCLXXXIIII. Ecgfrid rex Nordan- 
hymbrorum, misso Hiberniam cum 
exercitu duce Bercto, uastauit mis- 
ere gentem innoxiam, et nationi 
Anglorum semper amicissimam, ita 
ut ne ecclesiis quidem aut monaa- 
teriis manus parceret hostilis (Eccl. 
Hist., ed. Plummer, 1.266). 



In the mean while Bcfrid had 
sent Bertus with power to subdue 
Ireland, a harmless nation, saith 
Beda, and ever friendly to the Eng- 
lish ; in both which they seem to 
have left a posterity much unlike 
them at this day ; miserably wasted, 
without regard had to places hal- 
lowed or profane. 



136 



UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 



regum esse potentiam, nee regis 
quempiam nomine dignum prseter 
Enm, cujus nutui caelum, terra, 
mare, legibus obediunt aeternis. 8 * 



king quickly rising wished a!l 
about him to behold and consider 
the weak and frivolous power of 
a king, and that none indeed de- 
served the name of king, but he 
whose eternal laws both heaven, 
earth, and sea obey. 90 



Denique in quodam convivio, ubi 
se plerumque fatuorum dicacitas 
liberius ostentat, fama est Kin- 
nadium regem Scottorum ludibun- 
dum dixisse, mirum videri tam vili 
homuncioni tot provincias subjici; 
idque a quodam mimo sinistra aure 
acceptum, et Edgaro postmodum 
sollempni convitio in os objectum. 
At ille, re suis eelata, Kinnadium, 
quasi magni mysterii consultandi 
gratia, accersiit, longeque in syl- 
vam seducto, unum ex duobus, 
quos secum attulerat, ensibus tra- 
didit; "Et nunc," inquit, "lice- 
bit vires tuas experiare cum soli 
simus. Jam enim faxo ut appar- 
eat quis alteri merito supponi de- 
beat; tu quoque ne pedem referas 
quin mecum rem ventiles. Turpe 
est enim regem in convivio esse 



Kened king of Scots, then in 
the court of Edgar, sitting one 
day at table, was heard to say jest- 
ingly among his servants, he won- 
dered how so many provinces could 
be held in subjection by such a 
little dapper man: his words were 
brought to the kings ear; he sends 
for Kened as about some private 
business, and in talk drawing him 
forth to a secret place, takes from 
under his garment two swords, 
which he had brought with him, 
gave one of them to Kened; and 
now, saith he, it shall be tried 
which ought to be the subject; for 
it is shameful for a king to boast 
at table, and shrink in fight. 
Kened much abashed fell presently 
at his feet, and besought him to 
pardon what he had simply spok- 



88 Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. Arnold, p. 189. 
90 Pp. 367-8. The prefatory note to Wordsworth's A Fact, and an 
Imagination ; or Canute and Alfred, on the Sea-Shore declares that "one 
or two expressions are taken from Milton's History of England." The 
part of the poem so borrowed is apparently the following: 

Deaf was the Sea ; 
Her waves rolled on, respecting his decree 
Less than they heed a breath of wanton air. 
— Then Canute, rising from the invaded throne, 
Said to his servile Courtiers, — "Poor the reach, 
The undisguised extent, of mortal sway ! 
He only is a King, and he alone 
Deserves the name (this truth the billows preach) 
Whose everlasting laws, sea, earth, and heaven, obey." 
Milton, rather typically, adds his own comment on Cnut's lesson, re- 
marking that the truth which the King intended to impress "needed no 
such laborious demonstration," and, further, thafit was "so evident of 

itself that unless to shame his court-flatterers, who would not 

else be convinced, Canute needed not to have gone wetshod home." 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 137 

dicaculum, nee esse in prselio en, no way intended to his dis- 
promtulum. ' ' Conf usus ille, nee honour or disparagement ; where- 
verbo mutire ausus, ad pedes dom- with the king was satisfied.* 1 
ini regis procidit, simplicis joei 
veniam precatns et eonfestim con- 
secutus. 81 

The following versions of Harold's death at Hastings show 
Milton's peculiar skill in selecting elements from two distinct 
sources, and in reducing them to a form wherein personal 
point of view transfigures the details supplied by the originals. 
The Latin accounts are those of Malmesbury and Simeon 
respectively. 

Valuit haee vicissitudo, modo il- Thus hung the victory wavering 

lis, modo istis vincentibus, quan- on either side from the third hour 
turn Haroldi vita moram fecit; at of day to evening; when Harold 
ubi jactu sagittae violato cerebro having maintained the fight with 
procubuit, fuga Anglorum peren- unspeakable courage and personal 
nis in nocte fuit. 03 valour, shot into the head with an 

Ab hora tamen diei tertia usque arrow, fell at length, and left his 
noctis crepusculum suis adversariis soldiers without heart longer to 
restitit fortissime, et seipsum pug- withstand the unwearied enemy.* 5 
nando tarn fortiter defendit et 
tarn strenue, ut vix ab hostili in- 
terimi posset agmine. At post- 
quam ex his et ex illis quampluri- 
mi corruere, heu! ipsemet cecidit 
crepusculi tempore. 94 

In the first edition (on p. 112), the names of Malmesbury, 
Huntingdon, Ethelwerd, Bede, and Nennius are noted op- 
posite the passage which appears in the right-hand column 
below. The left-hand column contains passages from the 



91 Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 177. 

92 P. 342. 

93 Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, ed. Stubbs, 2. 303. 

94 Simeon, Historia Regum, ed. Arnold, 2. 181. 

95 P. 391. 



138 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



several sources. 96 The italicized passage in Milton's text 
illustrates his skill in weaving and assimilating material. 



Quapropter, sicut hi quibus 'd 
muneris est lascivientes arboris 
ramos solent succidere, ut reliquor- 
um, vitse succo suo possit suffieere, 
sic incolse aliquorum expulsione 
matrem allevant, ne tam numero- 
S8B prolis pastu exhausta succum- 
bat: sed, ut facti minuant invidi- 
am, sorte ducunt eliminandos. 
Inde est quod illius terrae homines 
invenerint sibi ex necessitate vir- 
tutem, ut natali solo ejecti pce- 
grinas sedes armis vendieent. 97 

Inierunt auteru certamen contra 
Pictos et Scottos, qui jam vener- 
unt usque ad Stanfordiam, quae 
sita est in australi parte Lincoln - 
iae, distans ab ea quadraginta mil- 
iariis. 98 

Et mox contra Seotos causa pro- 
bationis mittuntur: tandem non 
morata juventus, pectora induunt 
armis, temptant quoque praslia 
peregrina: miscetur viro vir, rnit 
Germanus, ruit Scotus, ex utraque 
parte miserrima cajdes: victorc- 
post Saxones existunt." 

Quod ubi domi nuntiatum est, 
simul et insula? fertilitas, ac seg- 
nitia Brettonum; mittitur con- 
festim illo classis prolixior, arma- 
torum ferens manum fortiorem, 
quae prsemissse adiuncta cohorti in 



The British Nennius writes, that 
these brethren were driven into 
exile out of Germany, and to Vor- 
tigern who reigned in much fear, 
one while of the Picts, then of the 
Romans and Ambrosius, came op- 
portunely into the haven. For it 
was the custom in Old Saxony, 
when their numerous offspring 
overflowed the narrowness of their 
bounds, to send them nut by lot 
into new dwellings wherever they 
found room, either vacant or to be 
forced. But whether sought, or 
unsought, they dwelt not here long 
without employment. For the 
Scots and Picts were now come 
down, some say as far as Stam- 
ford, in Lincolnshire, whom per- 
haps not imagining to meet new- 
opposition, the Saxons, though not 
till after a sharp encounter, put to 
flight: and that more than once; 
slaying in fight, as some Scotch 
writers affirm, their king Eugenius 
the son of Fergus. Hengist perceiv- 
ing the island to be rich and fruit- 
ful, but her princes and other in- 
habitants given to vicious ease, 
sends word home, inviting others 
to a share of his good success. 
Who returning with seventeen 
ships, were grown up now to a 



96 For passages containing the material from Nennius, see Usher, De 
Primordiis, ed. 1687, pp. 207, 239. Cf. Nennius, Historic/, Britonum, ed. 
Stevenson, p. 24 (in Collection of Monastic Chronicles, published by Eng. 
Hist. Soc). As to the manner in which Nennius may have been sug- 
gested to Milton at this point, see the marginal references in Bede, Eccles- 
iastical History, ed. Wheloc, pp. 58-9. As to the Scottish authority, cf. 
Buchanan, History of Scotland, trans. Aikman, 1. 227. 

97 Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 8-9. 
88 Huntingdon, ed. Arnold, p. 38. 

m Ethelwerd, ed. Petrie, p. 602. 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 139 

uincibilem fecit exercitum. Suscep- sufficient army, and entertained 

erunt ergo, qui aduenerant, donan- without suspicion on these terms, 

tibus Britannis, locum habitationis that they "should bear the brunt 

inter eos, ea condicione, ut hi pro of war against the Picts, receiving 

patriae pace et salute contra aduer- stipend, and some place to inhah- 

sarios militarent, illi militantibus it. ' ' 2 
debita stipendia conferrent. 1 

When *he History of Britain is compared with the works 
of other writers • 2 English history belonging to Milton's age 
and to that immediately preceding it, one finds that the author 
has, in tne large, been diligent and circumspect in choosing 
his authorities. There are numerous instances in which Hol- 
inshed and Speed consult modern digests totally ignored by 
him; but it cannot be urged that they have, on the whole, 
succeeded better than he in tracing their way to the ultimate 
springs. Bearing in mind the general availability, in the 
seventeenth century, of printed editions relating to the sources 
and literature of English history, Milton may be said to 
have put himself in touch with a considerable part of the 
entire field. If his work does not derive from the leading 
Welsh sources, the Annates Cambrice, and the Brut y Tywy- 
sogion; if it disregards Eddius' Life of Wilfrith and the val- 
uable Lestorie des Engles of Geoffrey Gaimar ; if, in the period 
of the Danish invasions, it might have been enriched through 
the Heimskringla af Snorre Sturlasson, it should not be for- 
gotten that these writings were not accessible in print until 
after his time, 3 and that the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries did much towards introducing British and English 
material to historical scholars. In like manner, if his narra- 
tive of the Norman Conquest is uninfluenced by the stimu- 
lating pictures of the Bayeux Tapestry, it is to be recalled 
that this highly interesting piece of work was employed, 
throughout the seventeenth century, chiefly as a festal decora- 



1 Bede, Eccl. Hist., ed. Plummer, 1. 31. See also Nennius, ed. Steven- 
son (in Collection of Monastic Chronicles), p. 28. 

2 P. 250. 

3 See Gross, Sources and Lit. Eng. Hist., pp. 237, 347, 107, 364, 255. 
See also Hodgkin, Hist. Eng., Appendix I, where the authorities for pre- 
Conquest history are discussed. 



140 UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 

tion for the nave of Bayeux Cathedral. 4 Yet some sources 
there were, overlooked or ignored by Milton, that he might 
have used. The contributions of the Norman William of 
Jumieges 5 and William of Poitiers, 6 bearing closely on the 
events of the Conquest and on Duke William's career, were 
included in Duchesne's Histories Normannorum Scriptores, 
published at Paris in 1619 ; yet he appears to owe no debt 
to these writers, who, along with other Norman and Anglo- 
Norman authorities, have been studied with eagerness by 
more recent historians. Nor can it be denied that he un- 
justly withholds recognition from the ecclesiastical writers 
and the theologians. Especially as to the former, his posi- 
tion is outspoken; he discerns no good purpose in reporting 
the "long bead-roll of archbishops, bishops, abbots, abbesses, 
and their doings, neither to religion profitable, nor to moral- 
ity. ' ' 7 He resorts to the Ecclesiastical History, to be sure, but 
he picks his way gingerly, that he may avoid "bead-rolls" 
and the like. He manifests respect for Alcuin ; yet instead of 
gaining a first-hand acquaintance, in accessible editions, 8 
with the material furnished to English history by this 
"learned monk," 9 as he calls him, he is content to know him 
through the pages of Malmesbury. It is certain that he had 
some familiarity with the early laws. 10 In Wheloc's volume 
of 1644, which added Lambarde's Archaionomia to Bede and 
the Chronicle, 11 he might have found them in Latin parallel 
texts. He makes no truly earnest attempt, however, to enlist 
their aid in reaching historical fact. 12 Milton's selection of 
his sources, in a word, is that of a judicious and conservative 
scholar who, though in no danger of missing the great high- 



4 Powke, The Bayeux Tapestry, p. 3. 

6 Gross, p. 375. 
"Ibid., p. 386. 

7 P. 299. 

»See Hardy, Cat. of Materials, 1. 688. 

9 P. 307. 

10 See First Def. (Bohn 1. 173). 

11 See Adams, Old Eng. Scholarship, p. 54. As to the volume of 1643, 
see supra, p. 115, note 43. 

12 Such passages as those on pp. 260-1, p. 249, and p. 358 are excep- 
tional. 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 141 

ways of research, is prevented by the difficulties of investiga- 
tion, by the accumulation of other interests, 13 and by no small 
degree of personal and traditional prejudice, from searching 
out the narrow bypaths where rich yields are also to be found. 



13 Though Milton had originally proposed to bring the History down to 
his own time, he concluded it at the Norman Conquest. The composition 
of the text progressed intermittently during a period commencing about 
1645 (but no earlier than 1643, the date of the publication of Wheloc's 
volume), and ending about 1660 (see Firth, pp. 229-30). Cf. Masson, The 
Life of John Milton etc., 6. 642-3. As to Wheloc's book, cf. Stern, Milton 
vnd seine Zeit, bk. 4. 134. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Modern Editions of Milton's Sources 

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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Ed. Plummer and Earle. 2 vols. 
Oxford. 1892-9. 

Trans. J. A. Giles. London. 1847. 

Asser. De Rebus Gestis Mlfredi. Ed. Stevenson. Oxford. 
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Trans. A. S. Cook. Boston. 1906. 

Bede. Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. Ed. Plum- 
mer. 2 vols. Oxford. 1896. 

Trans. A. M. Sellar. London. 1907. 

Buchanan, George. The History of Scotland. Trans. Aik- 

man. 4 vols. Glasgow & Edinburgh. 1827. 
Cesar, C. Julius. Commentarii de Bello Gallico. In Vol. 

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Gough. 4 vols. London. 1806. 
Dion (Cassius Dio, or Dio Cassius, Cocceianus). Histor- 

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Berlin. 1895-1901. 
Eadmer. Jlistoria Novorum in Anglia. Ed. Rule. Rolls 

Ser. London. 1884. 
Encomium Emm.e Regin^e. Scriptores Berum Danicarum 

Medii Mvi 2.472-502. Ed. Langebek. Copenhagen. 1773. 
Ethelwerd. Chronicorum Libri Quatuor. Ed. Petrie. 

Monumenta Historica Britannica, pp. 499-521. London. 

1848. 

Trans. J. A. Giles. In Six Old English Chronicles. 

London. 1848. 



SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OP BRITAIN 143 

Butropius. Breviarium ab TJrbe Condita cum Pauli Addi- 
tamentis et Versiowibus Grcecis. Ed. Droysen. In 
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Vol. II. Berlin. 1879. 

Florence of Worcester. Chronicon ex Chronicis. Ed. 
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Geoffrey of Monmouth. Historia Begum Britannice. Ed. 
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Trans. J. A. Giles. In Six Old English Chronicles. 

London. 1848. 

Gildas. Be Excidio et Conquestu Britannice. Ed. Momm- 
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Trans. J. A. Giles. In Six Old English Chronicles. 

London. 1848. 

Holinshed, Raphaell. Chronicles of England, Scotland, 

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Huntingdon, Henry of. Historia Anglorum. Ed. Arnold. 

Rolls Ser. London. 1879. 
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and New York. 1893. 
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2 vols. (3 pts.). Halle. 1903-12. 
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Ed. Stubbs. Rolls Ser. 2 vols. London. 1887-9. 

Trans. J. A. Giles. London. 1847. 

Matthew of Westminster. (Imaginary author). Flores 

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Nennius. Historia Brittonum. Ed. Mommsen. Monu- 
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111-222. Berlin. 1898. 
Ed. Stevenson. (In Collection of Monastic Chronicles. 

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144 UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Orosius, Paulus. Historiarum adversum Paganos Libri 

VII. Ed. Zangemeister. In Corpus Scriptorum Ec~ 

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Paris, Matthew. Chronica Majora. Ed. Luard. Rolls- 

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Latinis Excerpta de Britannia. In Monumenta Historiea 

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Sigonius, Carolus. Historiarum de Occidentali Imperio> 

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vols. London. 1882-5. 

Historia Begum. In Vol. II of Opera Omnia. 

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Spelman, Henry. Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents 

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Vita Agricolce. Ed. Furneaux. Oxford. 1898. 

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